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| Cutaway of the Ben Franklin |
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| Jacques Piccard |
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The main focus of science and exploration in the 1960’s was space travel. The United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in the Cold War, each nation struggling to gain political supremacy over the other, and the prevailing mentality stated that whomever first conquered space, would gain the upper hand. However, even as the two greatest powers in the world raced one another higher and higher, enterprising researchers from around the world were diving deeper and deeper – into the unexplored reaches of the sea.
At the forefront of this new international push into aquatic research was a Swiss oceanographer by the name of Jacques Piccard. The son of legendary inventor Auguste Piccard, Jacques was carrying on a family tradition of building vessels that were capable of exploring the Earth's most remote locations. Having made a world record setting dive of 35,800 feet aboard his fathers submarine the 'Trieste', in January of 1960, Jacques was now setting his sights on endurance. His new submarine, the PX-15, was designed to make long uninterrupted dives to the ocean's middle depths. When, in 1966, Jacques went looking for a partner with whom to build the PX-15, he found the Grumman Corporation.
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